Mark Beyer

The State Government has initiated a major review of its $4 billion capital works program to assess the impact of rapidly escalating building and construction costs.

The Paino family, owners of prominent South Fremantle business Sealanes, provides a telling case study of a management succession that has not run according to plan.

Western Australia has a generation of highly driven business entrepreneurs who have been with us for decades and continue running their companies well past retirement age.

The term ‘family business’ is typically associated with private companies, yet people like Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer and Frank Lowy have proven it to have a much wider import.

The Fremantle Port Authority is planning a major expansion of its port facilities in Cockburn Sound to accommodate the anticipated needs of Rio Tinto’s HIsmelt pig iron plant.

Sydney law firm Dennis & Co is organising a class action for shareholders in failed mining company Sons of Gwalia, in the process attracting the ire of listed litigation funding company and competitor, IMF (Australia).

If winning the big jobs is a measure of success, then Freehills gets top billing in the insolvency market this year after being appointed as legal adviser to the administrators of failed mining company Sons of Gwalia.

A distinctive feature of the corporate law market in Perth is the prominence of boutique firms, which consistently give the big national firms a run for their money.

An upsurge in strike activity and the prospect of major Federal Government reforms has placed industrial relations front and centre as a business issue in Western Australia.

The State Government has pledged to focus next year’s budget on increased community spending and infrastructure investment ahead of the tax cuts demanded by Federal Treasurer Peter Costello.

Ingot Capital Management, the Sydney-based fund manager that backed the 2003 rescue of ERG Limited, has emerged as a major shareholder in another troubled Perth technology company, Intellect Holdings.

The spread of community banks in Western Australia is continuing apace, with a prominent former Perth-based Citibank manager the surprise force behind the latest proposal.

Western Power chief executive Tony Iannello has foreshadowed a series of major changes, including his own planned departure and the creation of new corporate brands, as the utility prepares for a four-way break-up next year.

Smorgan Steel Group and OneSteel, the two dominant steel producers in Australia, have benefited from the strong demand and rising prices for steel products.

The flip side of Australia’s resources boom has been a sharp increase in the cost of steel and other business inputs. Mark Beyer reports.

The shortage of skilled labour is not the only difficulty facing the timber plantation industry in Western Australia.

Prominent tax accountant Frank Cooper is planning to establish a boutique advisory practice after he leaves his current position at Ernst & Young in July.

Premier Geoff Gallop named the ‘Broome pearl’ as a Western Australian icon last June and, as he lauded the contribution of the industry, said it generated $200 million in annual exports.

The Australian pearl industry has responded to the weakness in the global market over the past five to six years by lifting its focus on marketing and branding.

Industrial infrastructure is normally an arcane subject that only technocrats worry about, yet this year it has become one of the nation’s hottest political topics.

The State Government’s capital works program in the current financial year has risen to a record $3.9 billion, with social infrastructure accounting for most of the spending.

The State Government has delayed and potentially halted the development of Len Buckeridge’s cargo port proposal at Kwinana after deciding that a competing Fremantle port authority project should be given priority.

The triangle bounded by Kwinana, Fremantle and Kewdale is home to the bulk of manufacturing and heavy industry in Western Australia, so it is not surprising that’s where some of the State Government’s most difficult infrastructure issues are located.

Norwegian fertiliser company Yara International has acquired a 30 per cent shareholding in the $630 million Burrup Fertilisers ammonia plant and confirmed work is proceeding on a second possible plant on the Burrup Peninsula.

Early this month iron ore miner Portman fell to a foreign predator in the form of US company Cleveland-Cliffs, adding to a long trend of Perth companies being acquired by interstate or overseas competitors.

Market analysts consider the break-up of takeover target Foodland Associated even more likely after the release of interim profit results described as ‘weak’ and ‘poor’.

Fast-growing engineering consultancy Calibre Projects has formed a business alliance with Engineers India Limited in an effort to underpin further rapid expansion of its activities – including a proposed North West fertiliser plant.

Western Australia’s aquaculture sector, long touted as having strong growth prospects, is moving forward on two fronts, with Marine Produce Australia launching a $4 million capital raising and Western Australian Abalone close to completing a $1.8 million

If ever proof was needed that life as a professional director is no longer a leisurely, part-time sinecure, Peter Mansell provides it.

Peter Mansell believes the corporate governance reforms introduced by the Federal Government and the Australian Stock Exchange have “on balance” been good but have gone too far.

Western Australia is on the brink of a $1 billion investment boom in new power stations, with up to six projects likely to be under construction or formally committed by the end of this year.